Jo acknowledged the pointed change of subject, before following Lynda’s gaze, feeling suffused with pride at hearing her son described in such glowing terms. ‘Thank you. And yes, they do make a lovely couple. Bella is certainly the most beautiful bride I think I’ve ever seen.’

Lynda smiled but Jo noticed that the smile didn’t reach her eyes. She had the same invisible barrier that Bella had, when discussing anything personal, and she sensed that they weren’t at all close.

After chatting for a while longer and getting nothing more than vague platitudes out of Lynda, Jo excused herself and headed over to Emma. ‘Hi, darling, I’ve just been speaking to Bella’s mum. I wanted to see if I could get any more out of her about Bella’s background but she’s even more of a closed book than Bella.’

Emma nodded. ‘I know. I tried to speak to her, too, but I got the impression Bella’s got her well-trained and she didn’t dare give anything away.’

Jo felt a niggle of discomfort and foreboding. Again, she wished that Ben had gone for someone who was a bit more open and a lot more friendly. Like Charlotte, she thought, before mentally scolding herself for such a treacherous wish.

‘It’s all a bit odd, isn’t it?’ Emma was saying, her eyes scanning the room. ‘I mean, she doesn’t seem to have any friends. Don’t you think that’s a bit … well, strange? For your mum to be the only guest from your side at your wedding? And even they don’t seem that close. Bella’s hardly spoken to her.’

Jo pursed her lips, watching as Bella and Ben mingled with all the guests from Ben’s side of the family, laughing and chatting easily, Bella clearly charming everyone she met. ‘You know, you could argue that there might be advantages to her not being close to her own family.’

Emma raised a sceptical eyebrow. ‘Really? How?’

Jo shrugged. ‘You know the old expression: “A son is a son ’til he marries a wife … a daughter’s a daughter for life”?’

Emma nodded.

‘Well,’ Jo continued, ‘that’s because the son usually gravitates towards his wife’s side of the family. As Bella doesn’t seem to have much of a family, she won’t be interested in taking him away from us, and we get the best of both worlds. So,’ she concluded, feeling more optimistic than she had all day, ‘there’s every possibility that we may have struck gold with Bella.’

Chapter Five

Ben felt uncharacteristically nervous, as he carefully navigated the icy country lanes. It was Christmas Day and they were heading out to Suffolk for their annual gathering at his mum and dad’s house. The weather was clear and crisp, with the sun reflecting on the patchwork fields, making them look like they were wearing a twinkling coat of frost.

This time last year, he mused, as he steered to avoid the patches of black ice that greeted him at every turn, it was Charlotte sitting beside him and he was still expecting to propose to her in the New Year. Now it was Bella in the passenger seat, her hands carefully resting on her neat, football-shaped bump.